The naira was stuck at a record closing low of 292.90 to the dollar on Wednesday after just one transaction was carried out, with the supply of dollars drying up and no intervention by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), traders said.
The naira was unchanged from Tuesday’s close after one transaction worth $380,000 was made on Wednesday. That trade was done at 12:50 (11:50 GMT), more than three hours after the market opened.
The interbank market had seen just $300,000 traded on Tuesday, again in one transaction.
Traders had expected the CBN to intervene to ease dollar shortages, but that did not materialise. Commercial banks had been quoting to trade the dollar as low as 295.50 naira on Wednesday.
“Recent FX reforms have been enough to re-open the investment case for Nigeria, but there is still some uncertainty about the functioning of the market,” Alan Cameron, economist at Exotix said.
“The absence of volatility at N283/US$ was interpreted as a sign that administrative controls were still in place; it remains to be seen if those will be fully removed.”
Banks had been quoting the dollar at 281 to 285 naira after the CBN lifted its 16-month old peg of 197 naira to the dollar last month.
But the lack of liquidity has curbed activity, leaving the central bank as the main supplier of dollars, traders say.
On the black market the naira was quoted at 368 on Wednesday.
